read this report from 1944 (german sized robot tanks)

[permanent666]

i googled about the german retreat from france and found this.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17917102

maybe i was naive but i did not know that newspapers from this time brought so detailed information about the war.

best thing is the part about german sherman sized robo tanks and smoke shells which are used to supply encircled troops.

[agusto]

Probably they were refering to these vehicles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgward_IV

They were the only remote control tanks the germans had AFAIK that would meet the size mentioned in the newspaper.

[winkelried]

the Borgward IV was the larger of the two main German remote control tanks, but just 1'200 were produced compared to the approx. 7'600 Goliath.

The Borgward was designed to drop the explosive charge so that the vehicle could be re-used (where the Goliath was destroyed by the detonation). Although it was relatively big, with its 4-5 tons it was nowhere close to the Sherman so much to the accuracy of these reports. In 1944 the armor of the Borgward was somewhere on the weak side. In 1944 the remote controlled tanks normally were deployed in the (s.)Pz.Kp. (Fkl.) and operated from Tiger I or StuG III. The companies had 16 Tigers (or 10 StuG III) and 45 (36) Borgward and would definitely an superb addition to CMBN - after mid-44 full Fkl. battalions were formed.

[kensal]

I find it fascinating how much effort and resource the Germans put into building and designing strange weapons and aircraft. These vehicles are a case in point - they over a thousand of them and nearly 8,000 goliaths, yet their lack of usefulness must have been as glaringly apparent to the average German soldier as it is to us.

[Michael Emrys]

I find it fascinating how much effort and resource the Germans put into building and designing strange weapons and aircraft.

My guess? The Third Reich was all about magical thinking, and they imbued these "wonder weapons" with magical powers. A rain of V-2s on London would suddenly convince the British that the war was unwinnable when better aimed bombs four years earlier did not. One could go on...

Michael

[winkelried]

I find it fascinating how much effort and resource the Germans put into building and designing strange weapons and aircraft. These vehicles are a case in point - they over a thousand of them and nearly 8,000 goliaths, yet their lack of usefulness must have been as glaringly apparent to the average German soldier as it is to us.

What is even more interesting, is that the Goliath/Borgward weren't German innovations, but were based on a French design :cool: by Adolphe Kégresse which fell into German hands in 1940.

The original use of the Borgward seems to have been mine clearing which they did apparently well in the battle of Kursk in 1943. But combat reports involving Ladungsträger are pretty rare. The units were often used in an armor role. What I have for Normandy and a bit later:

23.6.44 Pz Kp 315 (Fkl.) attacks British positions with Borgwards with no effect (Heavy AT fire).

(undated - 10./11.7.??) 4./Pz.Abt. (Fkl) 301 subordinated to 12. SS Panzer-Division attacks positions at Hill 112 with Borgwards.

31.7.44 4./Pz.Abt. (Fkl) 301 between Andre-sur-Orne and May-sur-Orne with no success.

August 44 Pz.Kp. (Fkl.) 319 attacks bridges across the Maas between Lüttich and Verviers with Borgwards.

29.11.44 Pz.Kp. (Fkl.) 319 successful mission against attacking U.S. Forces in the area of Immendorf (?).

For the Goliath it is true that if seems to have been a failure. At then end of the war there were still around 6'500 of them left.